Last Wednesday, the Prime Minister formally notifying the European Council “of the United Kingdom’s intention to withdraw from the European Union”.
As her letter began, the decision of the people of the United Kingdom to leave the EU:
“Was no rejection of the values we share as fellow Europeans”.
“The United Kingdom wants the European Union to succeed and prosper”.
“We are leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe – and we want to remain committed partners and allies to our friends across the continent”.
The First Minister promised to deliver this debate on this.
It is therefore regrettable that the Welsh Government motion instead begins with reference to the Welsh Government – Plaid Cymru White Paper, despite this already having been debated here - and having been overtaken by events since.
As I said in the 7th February Debate on this:
“Although their White Paper calls for “full and unfettered” access to the EU Single Market - and although EU rules make this impossible after border control is restored to the UK - this is not inconsistent with the UK Government’s desire for a free trade deal without membership”.
“We will continue to attract the brightest and the best, allowing a sovereign UK to determine and meet the workforce needs of our economy and society, be they engineers, scientists health professionals, carers or farm workers, but the voice of the people was clear; there must be control”.
The UK Government is closely engaged with a High Level Stakeholder Working Group on EU Exit, Universities, Research and Innovation, to ensure that the UK builds on its strong global position in research and innovation excellence after leaving the EU”.
There is already agreement between the UK and the EU that guaranteed rights for EU citizens living in the UK, and for UK citizens living in the EU, will be a priority for the negotiations.
The Prime Minister stated that supporting integration and social cohesion “means fully respecting, and indeed strengthening, the devolution settlements. But never allowing our Union to become looser and weaker, or our people drift apart.”
Speaking on the Article 50 process in the House of Commons, she expressed her expectation “that the outcome of this process will be a significant increase in the decision-making power of each devolved administration”.
Although uncompromising on core principles, the EU Draft Negotiating Guidelines have flexibility to allow for a deal acceptable to both sides.
In response, the UK Government reiterated that it is “seeking a deep and special partnership with the EU, on trade and the many other areas where we have shared aims and values – and that it is confident that such an outcome is in the interests of both sides”.
As the Assembly’s Chief Legal Advisor briefed yesterday “when we leave the EU, restrictions on the ability of the devolved administrations to legislate in areas not reserved to the UK Government, will disappear”.
The Labour/Plaid Cymru White Paper calls for a “UK framework to provide legal underpinning for effective regulation of issues such as environment, agriculture and fisheries which are heavily governed by EU law”.
And the Great Repeal Bill White Paper states “the UK Government intends to replicate the current frameworks provided by EU rules through UK legislation. In parallel we will begin intensive discussions with the devolved administrations to identify where common frameworks need to be retained”.
As the NFU states an agricultural framework should prevent unfair competition between devolved administrations and secure and protect adequate long term funding for agriculture.
And the Farmers Union of Wales has urged the Welsh Government to “be ambitious in reviewing EU derived legislation which adds unnecessarily to the bureaucratic burden face by farmers”.
The UK economy was the fastest growing G7 economy last year.
A survey published yesterday found that Global Central Bankers favour Sterling over the Euro as a long-term stable reserve investment.
When our great union of UK nations sets its mind on something and works together, we are an unstoppable force.
No one in the UK or the EU wins if everyone ends up weaker from this process.
So let us condemn and reject any single issue, bandwagon jumping “enemy within” who seeks to undermine the development of a new relationship with the EU in order to weaken and divide our islands and destroy our United Kingdom.
With optimism we can embrace this opportunity to build a dynamic global future, but this will only happen in Wales if Carwyn’s Doomsday Cult climbs off its one trick pony.